The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1887-1896, 1887-03-13
MccLELLAN's OWN STORY
PART ii.


nm were about Harper's Ferry, and Lee had In
hand only ID. II. hin nnd lsongsircct. He knew
he could not cope with Mcclellan until ho called |
in his forces, but by simple rusc, as old as war
and done thousand times before, he pnralyzcd
his opponent, ond held hin, thus until McLaws,
Jackson, md A. p IIill had Joined, and when
day broke on Wednesday, September IL, the Con-
fcdcrate buglcs gayly sounded. and from the
mountains and the hills the martial music echoed
and re-cchocd over the Antctam as II went rip |
ping by, and the rcvcic in every note eecmcd to
say: I'VE were OF on a jnunt yesterday, but VIC
are all here to-day"
Tho young men who fought at Aptietom, on
either side are middlc.ngcd now II they are iiv-
ing, and they have lived long enough and be-
come generous enough TO love all that is manly
in the field. Tho bitterness OF war has gone and
rough comradcship, us sincere rs friendship, has
taken It's place. They know that Higher Power
brought about the wars mighty struggle for n
wise purpose; they know that when the rattle Of
guns about Sumter echoed from the Lakes to the
Gulf and from the stormy Atlantic to the peace
full Pacific IL depended very largely upon sur
roundIngs rs to the side the muskct was to he
shouldercd for-the Georgian, the Virgininp. tho
Carolinian, by reason OF his education, prcju
dice, surroundings, followed the Stars and Bars,
and the New Yorker, Vcrmontcr, Pcnnsylva-
nian upheld tho glorious Old Flag. This feeling
has waxcd big since Appomattox, but there was
much of II during the war, especially at An
tictam.
When the Union soldiers saw the awful punish
ment the Confcdcratcs bore so hcrolcally on that
field they fought them ~ manly foes and they
admired them as gallant men.
For McClcllan's sakc we would II were 80 that
we should not say word further here about
Antictam, but truth wrongs no man. II was
drawn fight In every sense OF the word Tho
Confedcratcs hnd less than 1000 men on the
fed the Fcdcrals Ind $500. and after hard
pounding 1t ended rs II began; excepting slight
gain of ground about the Bunker Church on
their left and the taking the bridge their right.
wcobtnncd no advantage nftcr bloody struggle
of thirteen hours.
Hooker had crossed aud confronted the Con-
fedcrate left the evening before, the 18th, and
he was followed by Mansfield, who bivouackci
about mile IN his rear, facing south. Tho next
morning sumner followed with the Second Corps.
Hooker opened the ball atcarly dawn on the 18th,
drove them out of line of woods across large
fields Into second line of woods ind no farther;
then came Mansfield. killed while deployng, and
his corps fell TO Williams but the Confcderatcs
could not be shaken from tho woods about the
bunker Church. Then Sumner advanced with
his powerful corps, but the Confcderatcs hurled
back his best division under Scdgwick, but gal
liant Uncle John wafercd the dusty roads with
crimson seals of glory from three dripping
woundserc he would leave tho fight. Still the
Confederates held their position, and Franklin
with two divisions of the Sixth Corps, came on
the field One of his brgadcs Irwin's) charged
and almost reached the Bunker Church, but II
could not hold the ground thus gained. After a
hurried survey of affairs Franklin wisely con-
cludcd that both sides were fought out and his
fresh troops could sweep the field therefore he
formed his two divisions In a column of assault,
but as he was about to sound the charge Sumner
forbade 1t, MS he CSumner) thought his corps was
too much shaken to support such charge.
Franklin had II 80 much to heart he sent for Nc
Clellan but after he got there and listened to the
point In controversy he advised franklin not to
assume the offensive. Such charge right then
and there In all human probability would have
been crowned with the success that Franklin
hoped for.
All this, be IL remembered. was on the Confcd-
crate loft and left CENTRE and, be 1t further
membered, these attacks had been made without
ensemblC; the corps had charged sngly, and at no
hour during the day had more than 1900 or
1900 Union troops attacked. Hooker went into
action about dawn, took his punishment, and
rceled out of the fight Williams attacked about
IA NJ, and Sumner ats. Franklin came on the
field about noon. The military student can sec
at once that had more comprehensive dispositions
been made the result would have been widely
different. Excepting distant artillery fire. all the
fighting thus fur was on the Confederate left and
left centre, as the trifiing Burnside did not get
seriously at work OH their right until after l p.
NJ, but he did good work there by-and-by, as the
Confederate right, well posted ut the tctc dc pont
and on the heights beyond, and he took the
bridge and crowded the enemy back almost to
Sharpsburg, but no farther. 1nnsmuch as he be-
gan not till p NJ, and inasmuch rs all the Union
troops on the Confederate left and left centre had
fought their fight aud were resting on their arms,
there was no diversion made In his favor as there
should have been If Gen. Mcclellan had been
closer to the front than Pry's house. or had his
faculties not moved as sluggishly there as they
ever did elsewhere.
We left Burnside well to the 'front.' Toward
evening Gen. A. p. Hill with his light division
and batteries, attacked him IN flank and drove
him back, over much ground he had gained,
toward the bridge.
Night closed the battlc. The bloody struggle
had left the Confederates exhausted and they
had not man in reserve when the sun went
down. In the Union army were "a 900 men who
had not drawn sabre or pulled trigger The Con-
federates were hemmed In In that triangle formed
by the Antietam and the Potomac they were
frlgbtfully Off for supplies and ammunition, and
a vigorous attack on the 18th would have ruined
them for all time. Can this be dOubted2 Have
we not Longstreets evidence to that effect2 Go
on the ground, kind reader, and for yourself.
Ere the battle opened their army was In II terri
BILE condition for want of food, clothing, Shoes
MS we marched up from Frederick we picked
them up by dozens In fence corners, exhausted
by hunger, barefOOted, and without sufficient
clothing tn hide their nukedncss. The gallant
fellows had subsistcd for days on nothing else but
raw corn and green apples, and yet, doubly out
numbered, they had met the shock for thirteen
CORY hours which left them with less than ten
rounds Of ammunition for gun or musket.
That Gen. Mcclellan attacked not OH the 18th
must have been n grievous burden to him for
the rest of his days. He held right then and
there the war in the hollow of his hand. There
was no other Confederate force of any magnitude
between the Potomac and Richmond, and the
Army of Northern Virginia was at his feet, but
again his constitutional caution, his want of
Judgment, his lack of decision, interviewed and
and he failed to strike.
In this work he claims that Burnside did not
advise him to renew the attack on the 18th. 1t is
not our province to take up the cudgels for
Burnside, but he swOre that he did. Waving the
dispute between them, We will ask what tho officer
who was us intimate with him as brother, who
loved him ever, who stuck to him through good
and evil report, who was Il Democrat always,
who, IL not better, was and ls n more j,idlcious
rlcnd than the bilious W. G. Prime could be ia
any man, turn to your books and tell us what
Franklin urged? Aud Seth Williams, and Sack
EFT, and n host of others who were US high In
their profession as Mcclellan could be?
Aud after his head fell into the basket and II
became prudent to talk, what was the almost
universal opinion of the rank In the Army of the
Potomac? Within few months of his death
Hancock said to him: "Oh, Mac, II WINS great
mistake" Outside of the rank, what thought the
enlisted men during that long day THE 18TH when
the chaplains and surgeons only were busy
They could hardly be restrained; they gathered
from prisoners and descrters from the Confeder
ate ranks the condition of Lees army after thu
struggle OF the 18th, and they were anxious Il
'hnish the thing" Across the AntIetain on tn,
beautiful height, the Red Hills our signal flag
dipped and rolled and telcgraphed to our head
quarters ut Pry's house tho true inwardness Of
the Confederate lines, but nothing could mov'
Mcclellan till the 18th, and when the reconnoi
sances were made 1t was found that Lee, will
great skill aud complete success, had retrcate'
during the night of the 18th, aud placed the Po
tomac between him and his ovcr-cautous adver
sary.
Thus slipped from him the biggest oppOrtunit
ever placed within the hands of general durn
the four years struggle; thus ended the Mary
land campaign.
We encampcl there for weeks afterwards, an
A.